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longtooth wrote:

tacticool wrote:There's no 22 on the shelves but I can usually find a box or two of .270 or .308 or .30-06.

What are you guys using on squirrels these days?

Do like our Founding Fathers did when they were taking the round ball muskets to the woods for squirrels. .36-54 cal. then would not leave much meat either. What did they do???
"Bark-em". A real today but I have actually done it a few times when I was young.
Those early marksmen astound me w/ their shooting abilities. That was tough shooting. Mighty expensive today too.
Any of you young hunters know how???


Answer later.

Barking squirrels basically entails hitting them just under, striking the branch (preferably near the head) such that the concussion (and "bark" from the tree) knocks the squirrel out of the tree and stuns them. You walk up to stunned squirrel, give a coup de grace, and presto -- you are now a permanent member of the "PETA Hates You" club!

Good job OldCannon.
Not many of the YoungCannons ever heard of it.

longtooth wrote:Good job OldCannon.
Not many of the YoungCannons ever heard of it.

Frankly, I would imagine that anybody that shoots black powder rifles would know about it. It's part of "Black Powder Rifle History 101," which you are forced to listen to by your knarly, grey-haired mountain man of an instructor as he teaches you the sacred art of _______ (and don't ever, EVER say the word "Pyrodex" near him)

EDIT: Apparently "f l i n t l o c k i n g" is some odd kind of bad word? No clue why it's blanked out above.

The Annoyed Man wrote:You hit a squirrel with a .308, and you better hope there's nothing beyond the target for about 3 or 4 miles.

I don't even think the bullet will slow down.

Any man shooting at a squirrel with a .308 is a man who reeeeeeeallllllly didn't like that squirrel.

OldCannon wrote:

longtooth wrote:Good job OldCannon.
Not many of the YoungCannons ever heard of it.

Frankly, I would imagine that anybody that shoots black powder rifles would know about it. It's part of "Black Powder Rifle History 101," which you are forced to listen to by your knarly, grey-haired mountain man of an instructor as he teaches you the sacred art of _______ (and don't ever, EVER say the word "Pyrodex" near him)

EDIT: Apparently "f l i n t l o c k i n g" is some odd kind of bad word? No clue why it's blanked out above.

I have shot a squirrel with a .45 caliber percussion rifle. There was plenty of meat left because as luck would have it, and it was indeed luck, because I hit it in the neck. I was aiming for a head shot.

I used to have a problem with those critters.

I drilled em with an RWS one crank pellet rifle. 1000 fps / 4 power scope

Pellets shoot far straighter than BB's.

Vewwwwwy vewwwwy quiet too.

i would like to add hitting one with a .338 winmag will skin them at the same time

tacticool wrote:There's no 22 on the shelves but I can usually find a box or two of .270 or .308 or .30-06.

What are you guys using on squirrels these days?

A red-tailed hawk.

TxLobo wrote: Grand dad taught me barking back in the early 70's. Banks of the Sweetwater Creek in Comanche County was full of pecan trees.. and squirrels. My cousin and I thought that was really cool so we tried the same technique on bull frogs.. One of us would shoot right under the frog on the bank, knocking him up in the air, the other would use a 410 and go skeet shooting.

we got whupped for that..

Too bad there wasn't YouTube back then. I would have loved to see that.

I watched my wife take a rabbit at 10 yds. with a 30-30 lever gun.
We took back a foot and an ear for the dogs, I couldn't find anything else.
When she shot I thought she missed and it just jumped but it just never came down.

Years ago me, when I was in college, my hunting buddy and I were driving across his property on the way back from the morning hunt. We spotted a squirrel in a tree, and got out.

My buddy took out his .303 British, and took aim. The squirrel went around the other side of the tree. I told him "I'll go over behind the tree and make him come back around".

I did just that. Just as the squirrel made it's way around toward my buddy's side of the tree, I thought to myself...."oh no........"

BOOM!

I was almost instantly covered in squirrel guts.....

chuckybrown wrote:Years ago me, when I was in college, my hunting buddy and I were driving across his property on the way back from the morning hunt. We spotted a squirrel in a tree, and got out.

My buddy took out his .303 British, and took aim. The squirrel went around the other side of the tree. I told him "I'll go over behind the tree and make him come back around".

I did just that. Just as the squirrel made it's way around toward my buddy's side of the tree, I thought to myself...."oh no........"

BOOM!

I was almost instantly covered in squirrel guts.....

Many (many) years ago I was on a deer hunt with my Explorer Scout Post in the Davy Crockett Nat'l Forest in east Texas. We didn't see any deer, but I did come across a guy who had shot a squirrel with his .30-06. He was carrying it by the tail, which was about all that was still intact. The bullet went up the squirrel's back and left a furrow that looked like it was two inches wide! The bullet pretty much skinned the squirrel, but unfortunately it took out the meat and only left the skin behind.

These days I go hog hunting with a buddy who was also along on that trip so many decades ago and saw (what was left of) that squirrel. We still joke about it.

If you reload, a .30-06 can easily be used for squirrels. Lee has a .311" round ball mold that drops at around 45.16 grains. Load it on top of 2 or 3 grains of a fast shotgun powder (Red Dot, etc) and you are ready to go. If you want a bit more weight, there's also some 113 grain .309" bullets and you could use some of the .32 S&W Long and such that could work in a .308 bore with resizing. I probably wouldn't bother resizing the .311" round ball since it's going to resize on its own as it is being seated or shot. If you have a chrono, just try to keep the velocity subsonic for the round balls.